The invention is especially applicable in situations where nonsmokers and smokers must live and work together in close proximity; but, where ban on smoking is not practical or possible. The nonsmokers will find the SATCCC very useful in reducing to a minimum the amount of unnecessary ambient smoke produced by an unused cigarette. This is due to the fact that smokers often tend to smoke a small fraction of a cigarette allowing the remaining fraction to burn itself freely and pollute the ambient air. At home this issue becomes also very important because it concerns the health and the well being of nonsmoking adult family members, damage caused by smoke to real estate and possessions; but most of all, the effect of smoke on infants and children. At work said problem is also further complicated by the fact that many modern office buildings have insufficient air supply and filtering systems, due to various energy and heat conservation programs, and circulate retained smoke, various pollutants, and harmful microorganisms. This resulted in a number of illnesses and the situation has been given considerable attention.
Furthermore, while this partial smoking is beneficial for the nonsmokers because they in fact smoke less, the nonsmokers and smokers inhale resulting ambient cigarette smoke in sufficient quantities so as to pose a considerable health risk factor for both groups. It has been also suggested that such free burning or smoldering cigarettes have lower combustion temperatures than during the actual smoking and result in incomplete combustion by-products and more harmful polutants. In this case the SATCCC eliminates most of the above problems by keeping the cigarette lit but not burning or smoking significantly.
In addition to the above, the smokers benefit from the invention because the invention does not use energy to function in several selectable and distinct ways, there are no moving parts, and no maintenance is required with the exception of removing collected ashes. Consequently, this eliminates the need to purchase expensive batteries, filters, and worn out parts for similar "smokeless" devices. On the other hand, the cost per year of using such mechanical ashtrays is usually several times the purchase price of an item. The invention has no costs associated with it except the purchase price, and this makes it very economical and desirable. Said mechanical ash trays also have a very limited operational lifetime due to wear-and-tear of nonreplaceable parts, as compared to a practically limitless operational life time for the invention.
Another compounded benefit for the smokers is in the fact that through the use of the SATCCC and relative to the smoking frequency, the smokers will in fact save money on cigarette purchases. By using the SATCCC the cigarette is lit much longer without significantly burning itself; consequently, one cigarette may last over the period in which a smoker would normally smoke two cigarettes. Or for a moderate smoker, this may translate effectively to smoking two out of every three cigarettes. However, the most effective demonstration of how the SATCCC works is by comparison of the self burning rates for cigarettes between SATCCC and a conventional ashtray. After approximately seven minutes the cigarette in the conventional ashtray is almost burned out while the cigarette in the SATCCC is practically intact and lit. Furthermore on the subject, it has been also noticed that some mechanical ashtrays which filter cigarette smoke do in fact increase the self burning rate and consume cigarettes much faster as compared with conventional ashtrays.